The Cliffs of Seduction

[trb]

“El Pesadilla de la cabra”

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*LA pesadilla.

Hay que usar el pronombre correcto o vas a enojar la cabra!

 

[Gerald Martin]

Hiking in the rain is overrated. Would not recommend. One star.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Somehow summertime hikes with 40lb packs end up being easier than rainy hikes with 60lb packs. It was long past sundown before we dragged into camp. This might not be as easy as I had communicated to the crew.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I knew my preferred campsite was marginal for access to water. When I was scouting this summer I found water on top. Unfortunately, that source was dry when we arrived. A pond several hundred feet lower on the ridge provided an alternate source.

Dave and I filtered thirty liters of water for the crew. After eating a late breakfast we headed for the glassing knob.

 

[4ohSick]

Goat killing machines require high octane fuel.

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You must be a heck of a hunting buddy if you make them all sit on one side of the table and they still stick around!

 

[Gerald Martin]

You must be a heck of a hunting buddy if you make them all sit on one side of the table and they still stick around!

Hey, if you are footing the bill for your Sherpas, doesn’t a man deserve some respect?

Besides, after four days of following Mountain House flatulence up a trail I think they were ready for some space.

 

[Gerald Martin]

My hunt strategy was simple. Hike our brains out to the top of the glassing hill and look for goats.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Five minutes later we deduced that some white rocks>other white rocks.


First day conundrums… end it quickly or drag it out to fit the pre-projected mental narrative of the ideal hunt? Ten second decision. Game on!

 

[RobertD]

Awesome photos! Awesome thread! And I would've went with "end it quickly!" Hahaha

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

From the summer Gerald knew there were a number of billies he wanted to get a closer look at before any sentences were handed out.

Saturday all those billies were hanging out in the same basin, and it had all the ingredients for good old fashioned alpine showdown…

 

[Gerald Martin]

We interrupt this dispatch for a plate of post hunt breakfast hash.

 

[Derek44]

We interrupt this dispatch for a plate of post hunt breakfast hash.View attachment 240418

Doesn’t look like the right grain for heart???. Hmmmmm. Looks awful tasty though!!

 

[Khunter]

obvious goat meat. LOL

 

[CPAjeff]

I just got a call from our IT department that went something like this:

IT dude: "Will you stop hitting the refresh button every three seconds? You're overloading the server."
Me: "Dude, I'm looking at the cliffs of seduction - chill."
IT dude: "Wait, what?"
Me: "Nevermind. Go back to playing Minecraft."

 

[Gerald Martin]

I took Ross with me to video and help me sort out the billys. Ed, Randy and Dave stayed on top to watch the show.

As Ross and I made our approach the billys fed from the bottom of the drainage to a small knoll and bedded up.
We were able to get within 380 yards before running out of cover. With bedded goats looking on all directions we decided to sit tight and let them make the next move. I didn’t want to shoot a bedded goat and we weren’t certain which goat was our chosen target. When they had been feeding, we had decided that the goat with a dirty left hip had the biggest body of the group. There was another billy that was almost identical but dirty flank was the easiest to identify.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Ross and I waited on the bedded goats for nearly an hour. I alternated my time between dry firing on the bedded goats and looking through Ross’s spotter trying to discern which goat had the better horns. We kept coming to the same consensus. Three were good and two of the three were a bit better. Dirty Flank was the preferred target.

When the first billy stood and began feeding, it was as if a switch had flipped. They went from bedded to walking in 30 seconds. Dirty Flank was the second to last goat to stand and I heard Ross say, “I am on him. Whenever you are ready.”

When Dirty Flank stopped broadside, I was taking the slack from the trigger when I saw the another billy about ten yards behind him. A pass through or a miss had too much potential to wound the far billy and there was nothing to do but wait for a better angle.

That angle never happened as Dirty Flank topped the rise and paused briefly before disappearing from view. The second time he paused I was tempted, but didn’t feel good about the shot.

 

[MT_elk]

Great pics and awesome write up! Can't wait for the conclusion!

 

[MThuntr]

 

[Gerald Martin]

As soon as the goats were out of sight, I threw my pack on and began to cut the distance. I wanted to be a couple hundred yards closer if they gained elevation and came into sight. I knew Ross could catch up or video from a distance if I had a shot.

I made it halfway across the open ground when a billy emerged from the trees about 100 yards directly to the right of where the goats had disappeared. He wasn’t Dirty Flank but I expected him to come out behind this goat. The billy was looking down and to his right and no more goats appeared behind him. As I studied him through my binoculars, I was impressed with how bulky his body was. He was obviously an old mature goat.

Ross was lower on the ridge and I waved him up to me so we could take a look through his spotter. I told him that I thought this might be a different goat than we had been watching and I was considering shooting him. I looked through the spotter and could see his sway back and brisket hanging below his knees. From the front he had good mass on his horns and everything looked impressive. I told Ross, “ I think I should shoot this goat.”

Ross took and brief look at the goat and confirmed. “Shoot that billy!”

So I did.

 

[MThuntr]

Congrats Gerald!